What Happened When a Luckin Coffee Store Sold Expired Cake?

A consumer ordered a half-baked cheesecake from Luckin Coffee on September 21 and found it was more than two months past its shelf life. She asked for 1,000 yuan under China's Food Safety Law. Customer service first offered ten coffee coupons, then 300 yuan plus ten coupons; both were refused, and the legal amount was paid by noon the next day.

The law allows ten times the price or three times the losses, with a minimum of 1,000 yuan. Luckin staff said light food should follow first-in-first-out rotation and daily checks, so an item going unnoticed for two months points to gaps in store food safety management.

Recently, a consumer ordered a half-baked cheesecake from Luckin Coffee, only to discover that the product had expired over two months ago. The consumer demanded 1,000 yuan in compensation based on the Food Safety Law. Luckin's customer service initially offered only ten coffee coupons, later raised it to 300 yuan plus ten coupons, both of which were rejected. The incident sparked widespread discussion, with many Luckin employees revealing that light food products should strictly follow the first-in-first-out principle and daily inspections. The fact that this expired item went unnoticed for two months reflects obvious loopholes in the store's food safety management. Ultimately, Luckin completed compensation at the legal amount by noon the next day. This article will review the incident, the legal basis, and industry management practices, along with Front Street Coffee-related recommendations.

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Last night, a netizen revealed on social media that a cake she bought at Luckin Coffee had exceeded its shelf life by over two months, so she demanded 1,000 yuan in compensation from customer service, but the other party's proposed solution was to give ten coffee coupons.

According to the consumer's description, on September 21, she ordered a coffee and a half-baked cheesecake at Luckin. Just as she was about to taste it, she discovered the cake had expired. The outer packaging information showed that the cake was produced on January 15, 2024, with a shelf life of 6 months, while the blue label indicated a sale date of September 21, 2024. In other words, the cake she bought that day was already two months past its expiration date.

According to the relevant provisions of the Food Safety Law, if food that does not meet food safety standards is produced or sold, consumers can, in addition to claiming compensation for losses, also demand compensation of ten times the price or three times the losses from the producer or seller; if the increased compensation amount is less than 1,000 yuan, it shall be calculated as 1,000 yuan.

After discovering the problem, she immediately contacted Luckin's customer service to report the situation and demanded 1,000 yuan in compensation based on the regulations she knew. The customer service representative said at the time that they would escalate it and a specialist would contact her later. The next day, another Luckin customer service representative called, saying that the person in charge of the store where she placed the order had checked similar products but found no other expired food. Regarding the expired cake she bought, the representative proposed a compensation plan of ten coffee coupons.

She said she found this alternative plan from Luckin completely unacceptable. First, regardless of whether the store manager found other expired products, the fact that the cake in her hands was over two months past its expiration date was objective. Second, she believed that if it had been only one or two days expired, she might have barely accepted it, but a product over two months expired that had gone unnoticed and was still being sold was simply too absurd.

Perhaps sensing the poster's dissatisfaction, and with the evidence conclusive, customer service quickly adjusted the compensation plan to 300 yuan plus ten coffee coupons, but she still refused and hoped Luckin would take the consumer's demand seriously and compensate according to the plan she initially proposed.

In response, many netizens claiming to be Luckin employees added in the comments that this type of light food in stores is a purchased product and usually comes with two packages: one is the manufacturer's transparent original packaging, printed with the real production date and shelf life; the other is the blue label provided by Luckin. Since it arrives frozen, employees need to take it out in advance to thaw, while also scanning it through the order screen machine and printing the validity period (generally can be kept for 2 to 3 days). During daily restocking, the first-in-first-out principle should be strictly followed, with regular inventory checks and inspections, and items should be discarded on the day they are found expired, so in theory expired situations should not occur.

However, in this incident that sparked heated discussion, the light food being over two months expired, unnoticed, and still being sold shows that the Luckin store involved did not strictly implement the above rules and did not pay enough attention to food safety in the store. As the employee on duty, failing to promptly detect expired food was itself a dereliction of duty and should be subject to corresponding punishment.

In the eyes of many workers, Luckin's management system for store products, like its hygiene requirements, is known among peers for being strict. And according to Luckin's past precedents, whether cake or nuts, once self-operated stores sell expired food, they are very likely to face the consequences of dismissing all staff or closing for rectification. The half-baked cheesecake exposed this time was quickly forwarded by store managers to their respective group chats as a warning to colleagues.

As for the follow-up to the incident, according to the consumer herself, Luckin ultimately compensated her at noon today according to the amount stipulated by food safety regulations.

Image source: Internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.